As a matter of fact, so the record company of This Mortal Coil tells us, TMC was neither a real band nor an interesting name masking a solo artist. 'Rather it was a unique collaboration of musicians recording in various permutations,' according to 4AD Records, owned by Ivo Watts-Russell, who also - how convenient - was This Mortal Coil's frontman.
The collective made dream pop, gothic rock and ethereal new wave – all pretty vague one might think. There is little brooding however over the name of the 'band': it is taken from the famous monologue ('To be or not to be') from Shakespeare's Hamlet: the bard used the phrase mortal coil to refer to something like 'everyday worries and concerns', but it is also intrepreted as 'vale of tears'.

Active: 1983-?, GBR
Site: http://www.4ad.com/artists/thismortalcoil/
0 comments:
Do you know a different explanation? Were you there when it happened? Post a comment! >>